Queensland Art Gallery Presscuttings Book 10 : Record of press coverage, March 1982 - May 1984

DAILY TELEGRAPH, Tueaday, July 27, 1982 27 HOLIDAY AND TRAVEL = Queensland's new Cultural MG-- {Jl'. CentreB dazzles visitors If you haven't been to Brisbane in the last five to 10 years. you won't recognise it Blisbane is no longer just another large l:OUn• try town. ·It's an exciting capital where things are being done that should aroll6': the admiration of the rest or Australia. Forpt tor the moment the coming Common– wealth Qamcs - the masnlllcent Queen Eliz. abeth IJ Stadium and all the other venuea tlnlah– ed, for the first time ever In the hlatory of Com– monwealth Oames, 12 month., ahead o! the event. The Games are still a couple of months away. Other things that en– hance the beauty or the city arid 111ve It enor– mous prestige are al– ready there to be enjoy– ed. Like the magnificent new Queensland Art Gallery, the tint stage of a cultural Centre which. when totally com– pleted toward8 the end of 1llM. wW be unique In Australia. More than 8,000 people turned out for the spec– tacular flreworka open• Ing of the $28 mllllon Qu"nsland Art Oallery on June 21. More than 100.00J ,isltdrs have been through It since. Spectaculcir It Is a spectacular building In a magnifi– cent setting. Tony Elllot, the Aria and Tourism Minister, said It was unllkely that another such a bulldln11 would be built In Queensland during the next 100 years. He sald that In lt.s time It would probably shock. amuse, exhilarate, con– ruae, perhaps even dla- 11\l&t people or outrage Queenslanders' collec– tive sense or whf\t Is Just and decent and flttlnir. It doesn·t take much thinking to guess what he waa drlvln11 up. nie maaniflcent, enLlrely original, Queensland Art Gallery shatters to pie– ces the old image of Brisbane aa a consern.– tlve city which would never be expected to join the cultu: al R1'ant– gan:le. It Is amusing to watch Queenslanders - and. Indeed, 11sitors rrom other ~ of Australia - entering the new gal– lery tor the first time. Tuey have an Alice in Wonderland look. It Isn't surprbln1t. They have never seen anything like this. The size of the new gallery Is 10 Imes that or the old one - there are 4.000 square meters of display alone. The design and the elegaz,ce of the en– tire place are most st11k– lng. ExpansiVII! The entrance, rramtd by massive bronu glaz.ed glass d"Ors, opens to an expansive foyer of travertine marble. From the foyer yo1• get a breathtaltlng view or the Water Mall. an In• Lema! canal which ~raveraes the gallery and runs parallel to the river and features six pools. Greenery spills o,·er the Mall from overnead balconies e.nd . below, In the pools the water la agitated to look like a stream In the bush. The enttre scene la bath!'<.! In natural light coming through a soar– Ing skylight designed to deflect the direct rays of the sun. The effect Is stunning. The atmosphere Is one of cool tranqulll~y. The Mall separates the many exhlbltlOD arellll, with their spacious, re• taxed envtronment from the busier Administra– tion, Education and Ref• erence Ubrary areas. There an, many le\'els In the gallery and a great variety of cellln11 heights tor dltrerent effects. There are foyers and Jou."'lges everywhere to enable vlaltors to relax. sit back and take In the view, At an orlentnt.lon theatre, otr the main foyer, you can watch " s1X-rrJ..1ute lutroductory film on the building and Its fadllttes. There·• ,1 lecture theatre with full proJc: – tlon equipment: nn art studio wher ~ there·n be art clu.sses tor all ag~s - everythint,1 you expect and mort. There's e,·en an experi– mental room whlcl\ can be made sound and llfht,-prcot at the touch o a button ror special lllht and sound ertects In conJwictlon with ells- First stage of the new Queensl,:ind Cultural Centre on the banks of tl'te Brisbane River is the new Queensland Art Gallery already open. Facilities for visitors tnclude r0111ps for the dislJbled, a large underground cark park and a jetty. You l'tai,e to enter the buiuling to appreciate tile originality and e!e• gance of ii.! design, plays that require them Besides the Queens– land Art Oallery's collec– tion, the new gallery fea– tures traveUlng exhibi– tions. Rockampton and Mount lsa and that the Idea Is to have performing art– ists comlllg to the new• cultural complex &ent to other cities In Queens– land t.oo. Currently you can see a Kancllnsky exhibition on loan from the Gug– genheim Museum. New York, and an exhibition or Japanese mMterple– ce~ rrum the Idemitsu Museum of Arts, Toleyo. r.---- n,e Oallery Is only the blglnnlng of a huge cul– tural complex. Stage two of the devel• opment Is the building of the Performing Art.s Complex. The concert hall will seat 2,000 people. The Lyric Theatre will a1ao sit 2,000 people In two circles so buUt that at the push of a button one or part or one of the circles can be closed 10 that when audiences are smaller, the players may not have the Impression of facln& a half empty theatre, Schedule A Studio nieatre, like a theatre on the rowid, will be 1wallable to new writers to try out their plays. ! These theatres are ex– pected to be virtually finished uy the end of next year, Stage three Is the building or the Museum which Is expected to be fir '.shed by •the end or IW4. A unique feature or this museum will be a 1 geomorphlc garden 1howin11 the earth's atrata. The Library, \\ilh an outdoor reading area, will be finished by the end of IIIM. And how on earth a.re you finding all the mil– lions needed to build all 1 this, I asked Sir David , Muir, the chairman of t.he CUitural Centre Trust. n·s all funded by the Government with Golden Casket Lottery money, he so.Id. He then volunteered the lnfonnatton that the iO\'emment hu also aubsldlsed brand new thtatm for Townsvllle, nie CUiturai Complex Is only one of the cur– rent cultural projects changing the face of Brisbane. Festival ·e:.i. Lile blgaest Common- ' ' • Ii - ' / wealth Festival ever. to start 10 days before the oames and run right thrOuih the period of the oamea. ts another. More about It another day. ,.